Snow Plants

Snow Plants

Snow plant (Sarcodes sanguinea) means "the bloody flesh-like thing." They are known as snow plants because they can be seen right after the snow melts in the mountains. Snow plants do not have chlorophyll. They obtain nutrition from fungi located underneath the soil. These were seen in Redwood Canyon, Kings Canyon National Park, in California. Spider webs can be seen on the left side. They are one of my favorite plants because no other plant, that I have seen, looks like it.
mountaingazelle
on Jul 2, 2010 2:47 am
Image ID: 633979

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StarMan

StarMan - Jul 2, 2010 9:12 am - Voted 10/10

Wow... very alien looking!

I have never seen anything like it either. Best regards.

mountaingazelle

mountaingazelle - Jul 2, 2010 11:32 am - Hasn't voted

Re: Wow... very alien looking!

Thanks! I thought the same thing. Snow plants can be seen in California, Oregon, and Nevada. They prefer to grow in coniferous forest. I had seen them before but this was a large amount in one area.

lcarreau

lcarreau - Jul 3, 2010 12:13 am - Voted 10/10

I had been to Kings Canyon,

but had never noticed them till now.

Suppose it'd be hard to miss them, due to
their intense "blood-red" color.

mountaingazelle

mountaingazelle - Jul 3, 2010 12:30 am - Hasn't voted

Re: I had been to Kings Canyon,

Actually, I have seen them in several other areas in California. It’s just that I happened to visit Kings Canyon when all of the snow was melting in early June. These plants are easy to spot during that time.

RobSC

RobSC - Jul 6, 2010 2:08 pm - Voted 10/10

Nice!

I like unusual stuff like this!

mountaingazelle

mountaingazelle - Jul 6, 2010 7:54 pm - Hasn't voted

Re: Nice!

Thank you! I like unusual stuff too and these snow plants are also pretty in a weird kind of way.

rpc

rpc - Jul 22, 2010 2:04 pm - Voted 10/10

never seen those

before (at least not exactly like that)! pretty wild looking!

mountaingazelle

mountaingazelle - Jul 23, 2010 2:41 pm - Hasn't voted

Re: never seen those

Thanks! I had seen them before but not so many growing together. They are strange looking and easily noticeable!

CheesySciFi

CheesySciFi - Jul 25, 2010 10:50 pm - Voted 10/10

That's pretty cool

Sort of like the Indian Pipe we have in the east. I didn't know that any plants were parasites of fungi until a couple days ago. Really interesting stuff.

mountaingazelle

mountaingazelle - Aug 1, 2010 3:03 pm - Hasn't voted

Re: That's pretty cool

Thank you! It is similar to Indian Pipe since they both lack chlorophyll. I found out about these plants after seeing them on many hikes in the Sierra Nevada and other ranges in California.

Tomek Lodowy

Tomek Lodowy - Nov 18, 2010 5:45 pm - Voted 10/10

colours

are simply shocking, awesome!

mountaingazelle

mountaingazelle - Nov 18, 2010 9:53 pm - Hasn't voted

Re: colours

Thanks Tomek! These plants can be a bright red colour. They grow right after the snow melts and stand out very much.

TimB

TimB - Jan 13, 2011 2:46 pm - Voted 10/10

mountaingazelle,

very interesting plant. Never seen anything like that before.

mountaingazelle

mountaingazelle - Jan 13, 2011 4:57 pm - Hasn't voted

Re: mountaingazelle,

Thanks Tim! This plant is common in California. They only grow in a certain type of environment and that's why we don't see them in Utah or Idaho.

gimpilator

gimpilator - Mar 5, 2011 1:19 pm - Voted 10/10

This is great

It's a wonderful shot to start with but I really like your description as well.

mountaingazelle

mountaingazelle - Mar 6, 2011 12:24 pm - Hasn't voted

Re: This is great

Thank you! I thought a description would be nice and I didn't expect to receive so many comments. These plants are strange but I like seeing them in the mountains as much as I like seeing wildflowers.

Kate Ogden - Nov 2, 2014 10:00 am - Hasn't voted

Publish Your Photo

Would you allow me to use your photograph of a Snow Plant in a book on Yosemite Valley? Please contact me at: kate.ogden@stockton.edu

Viewing: 1-17 of 17